Hungarian actress Andrea Osvárt is set to play the leading female role in the series, starring as a former CIA agent and love interest for Frank Martin, organizing his missions. Joining the cast is François Berléand, who will reprise his role as Inspector Tarconi from The Transporter film series.The cast also includes Delphine Chaneac (replaced?) in the recurring role of Juliette, a reporter who seems to know a lot about Frank’s work, and Rachel Skarsten as Delia, the daughter of someone from Frank’s past. 12 episodes have been ordered for 2012 with a budget of $43 million.With an approximate budget of $4 million per epsiode, "Transporter" is one of Gaul's most expensive TV drama series ever.

Shooting locations included Paris, Berlin, and Nice, however the majority of the filming was done in Toronto. In October 2011, filming on the series was halted after Chris Vance was injured in an on-set accident. The remaining scenes are supposed to be shot in Toronto during the spring of 2012. The series is scheduled to premiere later this year.

The nudity speculator : It's on Skinemax so I expect plenty of gratuitous sex and nudity. Andrea Osvárt is high on nudity meter. My wish and cock hopes for Rachel Skarsten finally taking the nude plunge and shows us her Canadian pucks. Rachel's character seems to be created just to walk around naked and fuck Frank Martin.

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Netflix enter original programming with mega deal for David Fincher-Kevin Spacey Series ‘House Of Cards’

Netflix says that House of Cards would be coming to Netflix customers in the US and Canada in late 2012. The show is based on the 1990 BBC miniseries of the same name that explored the "ruthless underside of British politics." The modern version of the show will be based on US electoral politics, with Kevin Spacey starring as an "ambitious politician."

House of Cards is an upcoming American television series from Netflix that is set to star Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright.Cards will be a political drama that will be produced by Spacey and David Fincher, who will direct the pilot episode.House of Cards will be based on a BBC miniseries of the same name. The reboot will take place in the United States and will be produced by Media Rights Capital. The original BBC version was based on a novel from British author Michael Dobbs, exploring the "ruthless underside of British politics at the end of the Thatcher era."The U.S. version will be set in modern times against the backdrop of electoral politics. The pilot episode will be written by Beau Willimon and directed by David Fincher. It will feature Kevin Spacey as the main character. He will be playing a ruthless politician with his eye on the top job in Washington.

The Reason I'm Posting About The Series :American Horror Story‘s Kate Mara has been cast in Netflix’s first original series, David Fincher’s drama House Of Cards starring Kevin Spacey. The political thriller, based on Michael Dobbs’ novel and the 1990 British series it spawned, stars Spacey as Rep. Frank Underwood, the Majority Whip of the US House of Representatives who, after getting is passed over for Secretary of State, hatches a plot to bring down the new President. Mara will play Zoe Barnes, a reporter for a top Washington newspaper who, desperate for a break, makes a deal with Underwood for a scoop that could cost her her soul. She joins Spacey and fellow lead Robin Wright who plays Underwood’s wife. Also cast in the MRC-produced series is Kristen Connolly (The Cabin In The Woods) who will recur as the headstrong executive assistant of another Congressman. Mara, sister of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo star Rooney Mara, most recently recurred on the first season of FX’s hit horror drama American Horror Story. She’s with UTA and the Schiff Co.

The nudity speculator : Mara is playing Zoe Barnes - the equivalent of Mattie Storin in the original. The character becomes romantically involved with Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey). It's obvious Rooney Mara played a part in getting big sister a plum role in the series. And maybe convinced Kate to drop her annoying nudity clause for good because the role have intimate scenes and kinky bits too. This well could be the defining role for Kate - who turns 30 next year. I'm not saying she will go full frontal or something like that. Even the sex in the novels are pretty obscure. My guess is she will go topless. Another one slated for nudity could be Kristen Connolly as Representative Patrick Russo (Corey Stoll) secretary and mistress. Minor character in the original, it could be expanded to a major one just for the fact to see Kristen in sex scenes. Being a Netflix original - the show has no ratings board or advertisers to appease so sex and nudity is pretty much game on.

David Fincher's "House of Cards" Starring Kevin Spacey to Be Streamed Instantly in North America Exclusively from Netflix-- New television series from Media Rights Capital brings the highly anticipated adaptation of the award-winning BBC political thriller to Netflix members in late 2012 --Beverly Hills, CA (March 18, 2011) - "House of Cards," the much-anticipated television series and political thriller from Executive Producer David Fincher and starring two time Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey, will debut exclusively in the United States and Canada from Netflix, the world's leading Internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV shows.Netflix has committed to a minimum of 26 episodes of the Media Rights Capital drama, which is expected to be available to the more than 20 million Netflix members, beginning in late 2012. Fincher, the Oscar-nominated director of The Social Network and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, will direct the pilot written by Beau Willimon (Farragut North and film adaptation, The Ides of March). A satirical tale of power, corruption and lies, "House of Cards" is based on the book and acclaimed BBC mini-series of the same name."The gripping, serialized one hour drama has become a very important part of the Netflix experience," said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. "David Fincher's unique vision, the indelible performances of Kevin Spacey and the original version of "House of Cards," all have a big following among our members, giving the series a very good chance of becoming a fan favorite. We are thrilled to be working with this amazing team."Originally written as a novel by former U.K. Conservative Party Chief of Staff Michael Dobbs, "House of Cards" explores the ruthless underside of British politics at the end of the Thatcher era. Reset against the backdrop of modern-day U.S. electoral politics, the new one-hour drama follows an ambitious politician (Spacey) with his eye on the top job.Scripts for 13 episodes will be delivered before production on the "House of Cards" pilot begins in the spring of 2012. Production on subsequent episodes of "House of Cards" will commence several months later, allowing producers time to carefully develop the series.Media Rights Capital's "House of Cards" stars Kevin Spacey (Casino Jack, American Beauty, Seven) and was developed by Beau Willimon (The Ides of March). David Fincher (The Social Network, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Seven), Josh Donen (Spartacus: Blood and Sand), Academy Award-winner Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), along with Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti of Trigger Street Productions (The Social Network, 21) are Executive Producers for the series. Emmy Award-winner Andrew Davies and Michael Dobbs, who produced the original BBC series, also serve as Executive Producers, with Willimon as Co-Executive Producer. The "House of Cards" pilot is written by Willimon and will be directed by Fincher.

About Netflix: With more than 20 million members in the United States and Canada, Netflix, Inc. [Nasdaq: NFLX] is the world's leading Internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV shows. For $7.99 a month, Netflix members can instantly watch unlimited movies and TV episodes streamed over the Internet to PCs, Macs and TVs. Among the large and expanding base of devices streaming from Netflix are Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PS3 consoles; an array of Blu-ray disc players, Internet-connected TVs, home theater systems, digital video recorders and Internet video players; Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as Apple TV and Google TV. In all, more than 200 devices that stream from Netflix are available in the U.S. and a growing number are available in Canada.About Media Rights Capital: MRC is a leading independent film, television and digital studio. MRC film projects include The Adjustment Bureau, written and directed by George Nolfi and starring Matt Damon and Emily Blunt; Ben Stiller and Red Hour's 30 Minutes or Less directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride and Aziz Ansari; TED, starring and directed by Seth MacFarlane in his feature film debut, also starring Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis; Elysium, the first of two new projects to be helmed by District 9 writer/director Neill Blomkamp starring Jodie Foster and Matt Damon; and "Panic Pictures", a production and financing company in partnership with David Fincher. Television ventures include the political drama "House of Cards" which will premiere on Netflix and star Kevin Spacey, from Executive Producers David Fincher, Andrew Davies, Michael Dobbs, Josh Donen Eric Roth and Dana Brunetti; "iCON," a Silicon Valley satire created by Larry Charles and "Fake Steve Jobs," Dan Lyons, which will debut on EPIX; and two seasons of "The Ricky Gervais Show," the animated adaptation of the UK podcast starring Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, and three seasons of the late-night animated comedy "The Life And Times Of Tim", created by and starring Steve Dildarian, both airing on HBO.

How a Netflix Original-Series Deal Could Change TV-Making

The entertainment-biz press, led by a report in Deadline.com, has the news this morning that Netflix may be about to acquire a high-profile original drama—political thriller House of Cards from David Fincher and Kevin Spacey—by outbidding the likes of HBO. Does this mean, if the deal pans out, that Netflix wants to become a TV network?Actually, it could mean something bigger: the beginning, albeit the very beginning, of a much-theorized about move to a business model in which TV networks are optional.Why do you watch TV networks at all? You don’t go to the movie listings and say, “Gee, I wonder what Paramount has showing this week!”—you just look for a movie. The reason for TV’s configuration was, first, technical and practical. A network controlled the means of distribution: it had the hardware and the system of affiliates that were necessary to literally beam a program from a tape somewhere into your living room.That changed with cable, but we still had networks to pay for shows and create schedules. It changed more with DVD and TiVo and online streaming, all of which mean that is it theoretically possible to watch TV shows not on TV networks, without paying any attention to what channel airs them or when. Still, networks and channels remain central to TV—excluding online series like The Guild, which can be great but are still financially marginal—because they provide less-tangible support: not just paying for production, but bringing in a built-in audience, advertising and providing branding.You may no longer need a network’s satellite dishes to get your show into homes, but you need it to draw attention to your show (again, with exceptions like Dr. Horrible).Netflix is the kind of company that could further put a dent in this model, because it’s a business that has sufficient penetration and brand awareness to substitute for a network in launching a show: without the added burden of actually creating a cable channel or launching an entire complementary schedule.People who use Netflix are alwready aware they have Netflix; they get its e-mails and updates; a reasonable promotional push could, theoretically, get them to order House of Cards the way they now might order Avatar. What channel is House of Cards on? I dunno—it’s on TV! I get it through Netflix!Once that barrier is passed, it becomes easier to decouple the idea of watching a show from the idea of watching a channel—again, not that much of a cognitive leap when you think of how people watch movies. All of which could influence not just how we watch and pay for TV but what kind of TV can get made.Right now, if you’re selling a show, you have to be very conscious of its fit with a particular network’s brand: is it an NBC show? CBS? Showtime? TNT? You’ll recall that when Lone Star flamed out, there was a lot of talk that it was a bad fit for network TV, but it was hard to figure what cable network it would have been good for: it probably was not aggro enough for FX, it seemed a little too conventional for HBO, etc.Once entities like Netflix can acquire programs—without having to be “programmers”—that dynamic could melt away. You no longer have to fit a show to a channel, you just have to fit it to an audience.Of course, all this is preliminary: the deal may not come off, or, as The Wall Street Journal theorizes, this could just be a play by Netflix for leverage with TV networks. But as more and more non-TV-channel entities get a direct pipeline onto your screens—be it Netflix or Hulu or Facebook or Amazon—there may be more channels for getting around making deals with channels.

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Natural talent wins Jessica Marais a magical role

Surgery-free: Actor Jessica Marais in a scene from her racy new US TV show 'Magic City'. Source: The Sunday Telegraph

The former Packed To The Rafters star, who is expected to give birth any day now, impressed casting directors of the US TV series not just with her acting ability but also her surgery-free figure.Producers of the 1950s crime series revealed they struggled to find talent for the series who hadn't undergone breast enhancement, which wasn't common during that period."I've actually had better luck finding synchronised swimming groups than I did finding real boobs," said casting director Bill Marinella.

(Really? Natural tits? Miss Marais naked on Magic City is one of my weekend highlights but pretty sure there is a tiny bit of enhancement with her bust shape)

Magic City—Miami in a Glittering Period Drama

Saturday, May 12th, 2012

Period dramas seem to be a lucrative TV business and the Starz network is not wasting any time jumping on the bandwagon. Magic City shines a spotlight on Miami Beach in the late 50s and early 60s when the city was a glitter filled and balmy wonderland.

Jeffery Dean Morgan, as Isaac ‘Ike’ Evans, heads an extremely talented, yet not very well known, cast whose playground is the fictional Miramar Playa Hotel. The series begins with a huge New Year’s Eve bash ushering in 1959, the year revolutionary forces took over Cuba, 90 miles off the U.S. coast. The significance of this event is still deeply rooted into the fiber of Miami that houses one of the largest Cuban populations outside the actual country. Cuban citizens who fled to Miami can be credited for putting the magic into this striking city.

Morgan’s Ike Evans is charming, gracious and appears to have a heart of gold, but like many charismatic leading men, harbors deep, dark secrets. Building the Miramar Playa Hotel required Evans to wade into mob-invested waters taking on as a silent partner the king of Miami’s underworld, Ben Diamond (Danny Huston), aptly named “The Butcher.” The upheaval in Cuba has wreaked havoc on Diamond’s casino business there and his return to Miami threatens Evans and his closely knit circle.

Model turned actress Olga Kurylenko portrays Vera Evans, Ike’s “slightly” younger, second wife, a former show girl he picked up at the Copa Cabana cabaret. (Ike’s first wife died from cancer, a loss that continues to haunt him). At first glance, Vera seems to harbor gold digger-like tendencies, yet as the series plays on, she seems to be unaffected by her lavish surroundings and shares a seemingly true and authentic love with Ike.

Morgan’s grown sons, Stevie (Steven Strait) and and Danny (Christian Cooke) are polar opposites. Stevie, the hotel’s heir apparent, runs the Atlantis Lounge, taking advantage of his bad boy good looks to court the ladies. But will his penchant to court danger get him in over his head? Danny, the fair-haired son, graduates from Tulane and returns home to attend law school. For Danny, family ties are important, but so are the ideals laid out by a youthful President Kennedy.

Taylor Blackwell plays Ike’s adolescent daughter, Lauren, who must lean on Vera as her mother figure. Taking it all in stride, Vera struggles with raising Lauren while not so secretly yearning for a child of her own. Jessica Marais is compelling as Lily Diamond, married to The Butcher, yet carrying on an affair with the risk-taking Stevie.

Mitch Glazer, born in Key Biscayne and raised in Miami, drew on his memories to weave into the series a level of nostalgia that is astounding. His father was a lighting designer who crafted the look for the Fontainebleau and Eden Roc hotels, both famed Miami Beach icons, then and now. Glazer was saturated with Miami Beach glam and, a former write for Rolling Stone and other publications, knows how to narrate a story. (His second wife, Kelly Lynch, plays Ike’s former sister-in-law).

Take a journey back in time with the actors and the characters in Magic City. If you missed any episodes, you can catch up on the Starz website. Magic City is a time a machine and a reminder of all things “magic” in a city that continues to dazzle.

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Kristen Bell For Norma Jean Roy Photoshoot

Currently my favorite little blue-eyed blonde bombshell Kristen Bell from Showtime’s House Of Lies proves she has a playful side whilst still looking incredibly hot in a suspenders and making silly faces. I love the little b….Shot by Norma Jean Roy. No shit…(click/drag the pics)

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Most times when an actor or actress is talking about an awkward sex scene in one of their latest projects, they can blame the director or the screenwriter. But for Lena Dunham, when talking about an upcoming one she has on "Chelsea Lately" (Weeknights, 11 p.m. ET on E!), she has no one to blame but herself. Dunham is the creator, star, writer and director of "Girls," so every horrible situation she finds herself in as an actress is her own fault.Nevertheless, she lamented the scene saying, "This is horrible. I’m getting poked by somebody’s weird penis in a bag for an hour." Probably not the nicest thing she could have said. There's probably a certain "somebody" out there wondering what's so weird about it.Fans, meanwhile, can now look forward to that awkward scene on the screen, with this added image of the production of it lingering in the back of their minds.

Hanna Rosin: The Slate boys—Dan Kois, more specifically, was thrilled by that final Adam masturbation scene in which Hannah "takes charge," as he put it. And by the narrative arc of the scene, we were pulled along to feel that. Hannah actually "finds her voice," as Carol Gilligan might say. She banishes the hesitant, ironic Cabbage-Patch girl-hooker of fantasies past and taps into her inner dominatrix. It was thrilling to hear that bossy voice come out of her mouth ... and so it took me a couple of days to ask myself, thrilling why, exactly? What did Hannah get out of that encounter? A couple of scenes earlier she was telling people Adam was her boyfriend. And now here she was again, locked into a bit role in his show. I wish Meghan were with us this week to tell me how narrow minded I am, but what do the rest of you say?

June Thomas: I think that final interaction, when Hannah found her inner dominatrix, is less problematic if you think of Adam (and before him Elijah) as a training boyfriend. In the five episodes we've seen so far, Hannah has learned a few things—when not to rehearse OkCupid-type relationship talking points, how best to shed your tights when you're lying in a prone position—and she's lost a bit of the desperation that at first seemed so much a part of her relationship with Adam. She's figuring things out, and while I don't think she's ever going to get what she really wants and needs from Adam, at least there's some evolution happening. The other relationships we saw this week seem horribly stuck in the same patterns and habits they developed at their very beginnings: Charlie taking care of Marnie and her resenting it, Jessa and the dude with the Victorian weightlifter's mustache having nothing to say to each other but, "Unh, unh, yeah."

L.V. Anderson: I found the final scene less definitively empowering for Hannah (which is one of the reasons I loved that scene; it was one of the most extraordinary bits of television I've ever seen). The power dynamics were always shifting, and it was impossible to tell who was in charge at any given moment. Recall that when Hannah moves to pull up her dress, Adam says, "Pull your shit down. That's not what this is." Adam is driving the scene—like they say, it's the subs who are really in control—and though Hannah is much defter as a sexual humiliator than a sexual humiliatee, some of her attempts are still hilariously bad. ("Twenty dollars. Thirty, because I also want pizza and gum.")

However, I thought the last line—"Shake my hand"—was perhaps meant to be an indication that Adam thinks of Hannah as an equal, now that she's shown a propensity for dominating. What did you guys make of that?

Dana Stevens: Laura, you so beautifully describe the roller-coaster power dynamics of the final Hannah/Adam scene that I have nothing to add—except that Adam's last line before Hanna heads to the bathroom to cry—"That’s on you, kid. I'm done growing"—sounded painfully right. Dunham was a guest on Fresh Air this week—a really excellent interview, with Terry Gross in unusually lively, almost mischievous form—and she mentioned that the Adam storyline is closely based on a particular college boyfriend of hers (obviously the whole show comes from her life, but she seemed to imply that Adam, in particular, is a roman a clef-style copy of a real guy.) Some of the details and dialogue in their scenes together have such a painful specificity they have to have come straight from her journals of those years. I know Adam is all wrong for Hannah, and a selfish pervert, and more damaged than we probably realized from previous episodes, but as played by Adam Driver, I'm half in love with him too.

I have to say #5 was the episode in which Girls grabbed me by the lapel and pulled me into its arms, like Adam did to Hannah last week (though not, it turns out, with the intentions she attributed to him). As of this week’s show, I am officially in love with Girls—not entirely without reservations (no great love is), but I'm so impressed with this show's humor and intelligence and ability to remain surprising. There are two scenes where we see Hannah mess with men's heads in this episode—her attempted seduction-turned-threat-turned-extortion of her boss and her at least partly successful extortion of Adam (she does get $100 for her cab, pizza, and gum.) Both scenes, I thought, were jaw-droppingly well-written, alternately shocking and hilarious. In them we see a new side of Hannah, someone who might grow up to be not just a writer but an actress (as the real-life Dunham did)—not just an awkward, disaster-prone schmo (though she's always also that) but a weirdly brave performance artist who messes with men's heads just, as she puts it to Adam, "to be an asshole."

Rosin: Really, Dana? I felt like while there were incredibly memorable lines and visual set-ups (Hanna uselessly trying to flatten the box, for example) I could see the gears turning on this one. Let's dissect her scene with the boss for a moment. Clearly this was a practice scene for her later encounter with Adam, right? The education of a dominatrix. But I just couldn't quite go along with it. A character that says something as funny as "because I am gross and so are you" cannot with a straight face also offer herself to dirty Santa Claus to be fucked.

Is the answer that Hannah/Lena Dunham does everything for the experience, for, "you know, the story," as Adam puts it?

Anderson: I could barely watch the scene between Hannah and Rich without putting my hands over my eyes. That scene made me realize how little critical distance I have from the show: I had gotten so used to identifying and empathizing with Hannah that once she did something I disapprove of (proposition her boss), I felt far more personally disappointed than anyone should ever feel about a television show. I've basically been watching the show with my nose pressed up against the TV screen—but I'm going to try to back off a few inches at least.

Hanna, I like the idea of the scene as a "practice scene." Both with Rich and with Adam, we're supposed to believe that Hannah feels powerless and taken advantage of, right? As cringe-inducing as her come-on to Rich was (complete with hilarious attempt at talking like Joan from Mad Men: "Those files you requested, Rich?"), it makes more emotional sense to me as an attempt at regaining control of her life than as a strained grab at "a story."

Stevens: Any way I can convince you all that the attempted seduction/extortion of Richard Masur was brilliant precisely because it was so off the rails, so different from what we've seen on the show so far? Until a good 2/3 of the way through that scene I thought it might be a fantasy or a dream sequence (which we haven't seen on the show so far—maybe now that we've had a flashback, an exploration of Hannah's dream life is next?). I started laughing when Hannah dropped the files on his desk with a coy "Plop!" and was on the floor by the time placed his hand on her breast with that breathy "I'm gross, and so are you" (a line that would have worked like a charm on Adam). And her parting line about writing about him one day under his own name harked back to a running theme of the show: How Hannah is determined to turn her own life into art, and how often that gets her in trouble with the people around her.

Rosin: I could almost go all the way with you there, Dana. That scene was very much about Hannah's misunderstanding of all sorts of porny conventions (the ones which Joan from Mad Men, for example, understands perfectly), and also her misunderstanding of the desires of men. It was so absurd that you have to believe it was intentionally absurd. But still, her reading of social cues was so off the mark as to be autistic. I will reconcile myself to the scene if in later episodes we get similar, off the wall behavior.

Thomas: Hanna, she's 25! It's as though office life (weird office life, admittedly) is a really difficult piece of music. She's learned a few of the notes and most of the notation, but she can't quite piece it all together yet. As Rich says, she's got potential, but for the moment some of her attempts to play are resulting in sounds that are hilariously discordant. She probably shouldn't be playing in public just yet.

Rosin: Fair point, June. I just had a flashback to the skirt I wore regularly to my first job and it was, ahem, workplace discordant.

Anderson: Maybe I just can't see the workplace-seduction storyline clearly because I've never been loved this much.

Thomas: BTW, was anyone else surprised to see Jessa in the college flashback? I had assumed that she had traveled the world rather than spending four years (or three if she'd stayed at home in Britain) in college. (And yes, Hanna, it's more of my immigration obsession. I mean, was she there on an F-1 visa or as a tourist with a waiver? It changes everything.)

Stevens: Let's discuss the flashback! A new stylistic shift for the show (though for me, unlike for David Haglund over in the boys' room, not an unwelcome one). Did you all like seeing the girls at Oberlin's Galactic Safe Sex party in 2007, Marnie in bangs and a headband, frozen to a pole by pot-brownie paranoia? I appreciated the specificity of what this scene accomplished: a demonstration that the dynamic of Marnie and Charlie's relationship had been in place from its very first moments (heartbreakingly echoed in the last words he repeats to her before she realizes she has to dump him once and for all: "I'm right here. I'm right here. I’m right here"). And the pathos of the shot of him with his arms around her, comfortingly patting that graffiti-covered pole!

Rosin: I know I am being dense here, but what exactly was the significance of him patting the pole?

Stevens: No real significance, just a nice visual pun for how all of Charlie's consolingness never quite lands in the right place.

Anderson: Charlie tries to be compassionate, but his attempts at embracing Marnie's humanity are met with cold metal, not warm flesh!

Rosin: Why do all flashbacks look like they are happening in the '80's? I half expected Cyndi Lauper to saunter by.

Thomas: That rule is in the same law that says all emails that appear in books have to be in Courier 10.

Rosin: What about thethe sex scene between Marnie and Charlie? That’s the one I found hardest to watch. He was like Hannah as an abandoned cat, talking, talking, suffocating the moment with his talking. That said, it was one of the most powerful scenes about female desire I've ever scene. Almost always—in movies, in porn, wherever, women get swept away by the moment, even when every hot-blooded woman watching knows that she wouldn't be. But here, you could watch the desire flicker for one moment in Marnie's eyes and then drain away. The camera stayed close in until she banged her head. The only equivalent I could think of was in Annie Hall, when Annie is super bored during sex until she smokes pot.

Anderson:Hanna, I agree about the Charlie/Marnie sex scene. Charlie's frantic repetition of the word "Stay" would send me running, too. Sexual domination: You're doing it wrong. (More evidence that the Charlie/Marnie sex scenes and the Adam/Hannah sex scenes always play off each other in some way.)

Incidentally, and not particularly relevantly, a male friend pointed out to me that Allison Williams is always clothed—or at least brassiered—during her sex scenes, whereas Lena Dunham's breasts tend to be bare. He said that this inconsistency interfered with the believability of the show.

Stevens:About Marnie's lack of nudity on the show (she has makeup sex in a bra and her don’t-break-up-with-me "party dress"!): that may be something that Allison Williams stipulated in her contract, as many actresses do. I don't mind it as it seems to gibe with her character's preppy restraint. Of course Hannah is naked more! Hannah is an exhibitionist!

Anderson:Oh, I definitely assumed as much, Dana, although I'm amazed that anyone got a no-nudity clause for a show in which people bone like clockwork.

Rosin:Right, Allison Williams has her dad to think about, handing out National Magazine Awards while everyone is thinking about his daughter hiking up her dress and ....

(we see about that in Second season. Judd, Lena and the producers will gang up on her. Put pressure on relatively newcomer to showbiz. One way or another....the 34C's will be the show major attraction in 2013)

Thomas: In this episode, someone (Charlie, perhaps?) said, "People do outgrow each other," and I was struck again by how amazing it is that Lena Dunham is making this show while she really is 25 rather than 10 or 25 years later looking back on this time of life. I have friends who, 25 years after they were 25, still don't really understand that. She gets it while she's living it—and she's bringing it to the screen in a fun, funny way.

Rosin: June, it was Adam who said that, and he was full of shit, and that's the amazing thing about Lena Dunham, to have the clarity about the life you're living and also the confusion, to be definitive and full of shit at the same time.

Stevens: Oh also, if it wasn't obvious from the fact I haven't mentioned her so far: I'm kind of over the Jessa storyline. Her flirtation with the babysitting dad isn't terrible—in a lesser show, it would count as well-written, but when we cut away from Marnie and Hannah's struggles to hers, I toy with the idea of going to the kitchen for a snack.

Thomas: Yeah, I can't deal with Jessa until her immigration status is clarified.

Rosin: True about Jessa, except that "Unsmotable" could be the title of the porn movie Hannah is trying to star in.

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Imagine Mad Men but with even more hanky panky.That is what might be heading to Showtime soon if the cable channel picks up the pilot to Masters of Sex, starring Michael Sheen (Twilight, Frost/Nixon) and Lizzy Caplan (127 Hours, TV's New Girl) as '60s human sexuality researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson.John Madden, the British director behind Shakespeare in Love and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (which opens Friday), shot the show in and around New York City.

"You couldn't do this on regular TV," he says. "It is somewhere between House and Mad Men. It has the period feel, but mainly the pair have such an extraordinary journey and it's their exciting relationship that is the heart of the story. "He says of his cast, "Michael is amazing and Lizzy is in a very different role than what she has played before. Caitlin Fitzgerald is Masters' wife. And Beau Bridges plays the chancellor of the university where they started doing their work. "So what Mad Men is to advertising, Masters of Sex is to, well, sex? "It absolutely is," Madden assures. "It is very interesting when you are setting up a world and you don't obviously know yet whether it will get picked up. But I think it will."

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Chinese actress comes out of closet

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Chinese actress Lan Yen has announced on Friday that she is a lesbian, according to Chinese news reports.The 26-year-old Lan said that she "would not choose men in reality" during a press conference introducing her new movie. The bold announcement caught many by surprise.She also told the reporters that her "eternal idol" was late Leslie Cheung, a world-renown Chinese actor who was also known to be homosexual.Lan Yen is an emerging actress who recently gained fame by starring in the Hong Kong erotic film 3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy.

What an interesting lady this one is. Lani Lan, or Crazybarbie as she is sometimes called (yes, Crazybarbie, I didn’t make that up), is a Shanghai born actress most famous for her appearance in the 2011 movie “Sex And Zen: Extreme Ecstasy“. She does the pale and elegant look; not so popular in the West, but goes down quite well in China. However even those not into that look will have to admit, Leni Lan isn’t too shabby looking.Sex and the Zen: Racy title eh? Sex and Zen was marketed as the world’s first 3D erotic film. Not actually true, but who cares. Basically it was a very soft porn film based on a an ancient Chinese text, shot in 3D and also featuring Japanese AV actress, Saori Hara. Shot in Hong Kong, banned in mainland China of course (can’t have the moral fabric of the motherland put as risk by such filth). It’s a clever marketing idea, even if the actually film is almost certainly pants.

Leni Lan Stats

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Learn About Nudity in Modeling

Cristina Dehart (ExploreModeling.com)

About nudity, is nudity necessary in this business? There is a reality show out right now which I will not name that says it is an absolute must, can not be a model unless you are willing to strip your clothes off and that is a lie. That is a lie. I mean, you know, I have been doing this for a long time and have never been asked to take my clothes off or ever been told by my agency that I have to do that. Jobs like that—there are jobs like that that requires nudity. There are jobs that they want, especially fashion jobs that will require that type of compromising situation and there are models that have no problems doing it and would like to do it and I am saying nothing about them. That is great. I have had done jobs like that near, job that you see in there that might close, I will had a bikini on but it looks like I am nude and that may make with someone feeling uncomfortable to do that type of job. You do not have to do it and your agency will not, not take you if you do not want to do it. You know, when you take—when an agency decides to take you, never have I been asked, “Will you do nudity?” Never in my career if I have been asked, “will you do nudity, if you would not do it, I can not represent you?” That is a sensational thing someone has put out there to get ratings on television but I think what is sad about that is there are a lot of young girls that would like to model but then they do not want to be put in that position so they decided not to pursue it because they now believe that you have to do that. They are—when you get with an agency, they sit down and they will have you sign or fill out a form with al your stats and your dress and all of that and usually on that it says are you willing to do the following; smoking, are you willing to do smoking ads? Some people do not want to do those. Fur, do you have anything against fur? Nudity, lingerie, bathing suits, those types of things. So, and all you have to do, they check yes or no and then that goes into their data base and when they are going to do a submission to a client they will basically will pull all those that are willing to do it and al those that do not have to. It is not that something that you have ever, I have never been pressured, I have never—and when you go to a casting they usually tell you, this is what it involves, this is what you have to do and it is that simple. You do not have to do anything like that. You can work very successfully I the industry without ever doing anything that compromises your values or how you feel.

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Simulated sex featured at ex-Italy PM party -trial

May 07, 2012|Reuters

MILAN, May 7 (Reuters) - Young women simulated oral sex with a Greek statue at a party hosted by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, a witness said on Monday at a trial where he is accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute.

Chiara Danese, a 20-year-old beauty contest winner, had tears in her eyes as she told a Milan court that Berlusconi asked the women to play sex games with a nude statue of the ancient fertility god Priapus."He touched the girls while they simulated oral sex with the statue," she said."Then Berlusconi, whom the girls called 'daddy' and he called 'my babies', also had them kiss him in his private parts. The girls meanwhile chanted 'thank God for Silvio'. I and (fellow guest) Ambra were shocked."

Berlusconi's lawyer Niccolo Ghedini offered Danese a tissue to wipe away her tears while she testified about the August 2010 party.

Berlusconi, 75, is charged with paying for sex with Moroccan-born Karima El Mahroug in 2010, when she was 17, and then abusing the powers of his office by getting her freed from police custody after she had been arrested for theft. Prosecutors say that dozens of showgirls and aspiring starlets received cash and other gifts for taking part in sex games at his Milan home.

Berlusconi, who denies the charges, says he was only helping the young women out of generosity and accuses magistrates of mounting a politically biased campaign against him. He says his parties were "elegant, convivial dinners".

Danese and her friend Ambra Battilana are seeking damages in a separate trial where three associates of Berlusconi are accused of procuring prostitutes for him. They said they lost job opportunities because of the bad publicity surrounding the women who attended the former prime minister's parties.

Berlusconi, a billionaire media tycoon, was forced from power in November after his repeated failure to pass tough austerity measures led to a crisis on bond markets alarmed at the weakness of the government in the euro zone's third largest economy.

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Croatian pornstar Alexa Wild gives some advice to fellow Croatian and rookie to the biz Tina BladeAccording to reliable source, Miss Blade was an engineering student with penchant for partying hard, spotted and recruited by Alexa. The inexplicable reason for Tina's decision to fuck on-cam will never be known but she is officially the 'talk' of her town and rest of Croatia after she was outed. Her hardcore debut was with an infamous Frenchman

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Interview: Dominik Garcia-Lorido Talks "Magic City" and Taking Advice From Her Famous Father

Being an A-list actor's daughter has its perks: access to exclusive parties, celebrity friends and the privilege of landing coveted roles, should she choose to act, with just one phone call from her dad. But Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Andy Garcia's 28 year-old eldest child, transcends that stereotype. Garcia-Lorido spent years cycling through pilot season, rejection after rejection, despite having acted since she was a kid. While she awaited casting decisions, she attended UCLA and was featured in a few small films.During her ninth season, she finally got the call from the show's creator Mitch Glazer and landed a role on Starz's Magic City, a drama set against the looming Cuban Revolution that follows the crooked dealings of the Evans family struggling to keep up their glamorous Miami-based "castle made of sand," the Miramar Playa Hotel, from crumbling. In the series, she plays Mercedes Lazaro, the Cuban-American daughter of the general manager of the hotel and a part-time maid who's trying to maintain her focus on being a Pan Am stewardess despite the distraction of her first love, Danny Evans (Christian Cooke).We got the chance to chat with the Cuban-American actress about how she personally connects to her character, what sets the show apart from other period pieces, and what she learned about the entertainment industry from her famous father.

Interview by Tara Aquino (@t_akino)When you finally landed a role on a TV show, what was that like for you to finally get that payoff?I started crying. [Laughs] I found out I got the role the evening of my third audition when I tested for the network.Magic City follows this trend that Mad Men, The Playboy Club and Pan Am have all adopted of being set in the '50s or '60s. What sets this show apart though from the rest?Well, we didn’t get canceled like The Playboy Club [Laughs]. The thing is, those two shows are network so it’s very different. Being on premium cable, you have more leeway to pretty much be relentless in the writing. You can use profanity, you can use nudity—nothing's really filtered. So I think it’s a little more realistic when you have a premium cable show.And I just think the writing is way better. I mean, I think that Mad Men is an amazing show, that as well as cable television, but it’s different. Number one, Magic City has a tropical setting. We’re in Miami, so that changes everything with the costumes, and the people are in bathing suits a lot. [Laughs.]It’s about hotel life, and it’s just different subject matter though it’s the same era. There are different types of people and a different living space. I think that there’s something very exotic, very sexy and very dark about the show. Also, I think there’s a real sense of realism there. I think it’s really accurate to what really was going on at the time.There are all kinds of women on the show. You have the typical house wife, you have the prostitutes working at the hotel, and then there’s also Mercy. She’s not just a maid at the hotel, there’s more to her we don’t know yet. What do you think sets Mercy apart from all the other women on the series? Well, I like that there’s some mystery to her. You don’t really know everything about her right off the bat and it’s kind of a slow burn to see her character unravel. You don’t really know her persona because it’s not really in your face. She’s not a typical maid because she’s just really working there part0time while she’s trying to become a Pan Am stewardess. So it’s just a side job, not her career choice.Also, she grew up in a pretty well, upper middle class family; her father is a general manager of this luxurious hotel. I just think that she’s a very modern young woman for that time to want to just venture out and travel the world and not really stay put and settle down and get married and have kids. Her whole thing is just focused on experiencing different cultures and it isn’t really tied down to anybody. But what happens is love kind of catches her off guard, right in front of her face, and you see how that kind of becomes a little bit of a conflict for her.From what we’ve seen from Mercy so far, the focus has been on her relationship with Danny. Can you talk a little bit more about that and the depth of it compared to Steven Strait's character Stevie Evans and his many mistresses?Well he’s her first love and these are two people who grew up as friends since they were little babies. He went away to college, he’s back now doing law school in Miami and he’s grown up. Now, they’re just sort of looking at each other in a different way. The first episode you catch him making that first move, taking her out to be his New Year's Eve party date. At first, he’s saying "just friends” because she’s giving him a hard time and being a little wary about it. But it’s hinted that there’s an attraction there, but the difficulty is crossing that barrier of friendship, which happens in life all the time. When you don’t want to ruin the friendship, you don’t know if you should go with those feelings even though they’re really there. So I think that it’s something that’s got a slow pace to it, but it’s very real.It’s like as first love is. You sort of dive head first into it because you’ve never had your heart broken so you’re not really guarded. She’s a little bit reserved at first just because it’s her friend and it’s weird. But I think that it’s a really sweet, pure and enjoyable thing that’s evolving.Your father on the show works with you in the hotel and your father in real life works with you in entertainment industry. Do you notice any parallels between those relationships?Yeah, I never really thought about that actually. [Laughs.] Well, I guess being a maid isn’t really a career choice for her but I do see it. I was very protected growing up. My dad was very strict with me. I was the oldest of four kids and there are three girls. So I kind of paved the way of what it was like to raise a teenage daughter. [Laughs.] My sister entered high school when I was in college so I kind of went through all that by myself with my parents—curfews and dating and that whole thing. Definitely, I relate to that with Mercy.Also, there’s just sort of that fire with her. It’s not the typical rebellious daughter thing. She has a little more of that than Danny, I think, because he’s a little more respectful and by the book with her. I think she isn’t afraid to make the move when she feels comfortable with him.But, I mean, it’s hard to have a father-daughter relationship. That’s a kind of common dynamic with a Cuban Catholic household of just being a bit overprotective.You’re of Cuban descent and the show deals with Castro and the Cuban Revolution. Do you have personal ties to those events or have any stories about it from your relatives that connected you to the character a little bit more?Definitely. I mean, this is my family. Both my parents came with their parents during the revolution in Cuba. Both my parents were born in Cuba. They left everything over there. My family got stripped of everything—of their land, of their jobs, everything. So this is my family’s story.This is a family that grew up in Miami pre-revolution so you don’t really see that a lot, which I think is kind of cool, but she still gets affected by it. Her mom is over there when Batista leaves in what’s called the fall of Cuba. Just right now, you see how that’s affecting her and her father. This is my family history. This is something that’s a huge part of who I am and it’s pretty profound.

How can we expect Mercy to evolve throughout the rest of the season or even into season two? I think you’re going to see a more daring Mercy. She’s a lot more in touch with her sexuality than you think and she's not afraid to really express that. I think that’s going to be the most surprising thing about her that’s revealed that you don’t really see in the beginning. She kind of seems like this innocent who hasn’t had any experience and that may be the case, but once she has her man and they start to experiment, I think it gets more apparent with Mercy that she doesn’t really hold back. And she’s not really afraid to stand up to anyone, even her father. I really love that about her. She’s definitely not a weakling and one that’s going to shut her mouth.

Before you broke into industry, did your father give you any advice? Well, it was something that I was just doing at such a young age. It wasn’t something that, when I hit a certain age, I decided to do. He would give me his two cents here and there but he would always just tell me to be prepared to do the work and go into auditions prepared. This is about doing the work and nothing comes easy. Study your craft. Something my dad always instilled in me was a good work ethic.I always thought on my own that what is a huge part of being an actor, or what made me a better actor, was just really living life. Not being closed in on life, but being more open to experiences and to people and taking risks and exposing yourself to things. The more experiences you can have as an individual makes you a fuller person and a fuller actor. There’s more things to draw from.

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Crystal Harris: How to bag a rich older man

IF there's anyone who knows how to catch a rich old man, it's Crystal Harris. The former Playboy bunny has some handy tips for other nubile young ladies hoping to snare an octogenarian of their own.

The 26-year-old ex-fiancée of Hugh Hefner, 86, says she gathered a few pearls of wisdom during her time as the Playboy founder’s soon-to-be wife.Like making Hef try new things - like sushi (see below for more of Crystal’s tips.) Harris became engaged to Hefner in December 2010 after he presented her with a $90,000 3.39 carat engagement ring.

Then she incurred the wrath of media and Playboy fans after she called off the wedding just five days before the pair were due to walk down the aisle in June last year.

Harris spoke to news.com.au about whether she regrets not becoming Mrs Hefner, how she felt about being universally dubbed "the runaway bride" and exclusively revealed her unusual determination to land a spot on a certain Australian reality TV show.The glamour model, singer and television personality was in Sydney to headline a "Playmate party" at Bar 100.

Crystal Harris’ tips for dating an older man1. Don't try and change them - "Older men are usually set in their ways, so if you don't like the way he is, then that's too bad, you're not going to change him."2. Be a good listener - "Hef had the most amazing stories, take it all in."3. Keep things fun - "Take them to new places and try to get them to eat different things, like sushi."

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Wannabe model Poonam Pandey is back with a bang. The attention-seeker, who went low profile amid speculations of her big Bollywood debut has returned to Twitter, post her Hindi film debut plans went kaput.And, after umpteen tweets about sex and what not, Poonam's back to doing what she does the best- posting her raunchy pictures. And, thank God for that or else we were really thinking what's gone wrong with her.We wonder if this has anything to do with Veena Malik, who seemingly garnered all the attention, while Poonam was missing from Twitter. Don't know if it's Poonam vs Veena yet, but the competition is surely heating up.Here's a look at some of the pictures Poonam's posted recently: